


Moon's Roses

by BlueberryYogurt



Category: Persona 5
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Hanahaki Disease, I'm so sorry Mishima, M/M, mentions of vomit, not so direct confessions, panic/anxiety attacks
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-20
Updated: 2018-01-20
Packaged: 2019-03-07 04:28:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,784
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13426809
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BlueberryYogurt/pseuds/BlueberryYogurt
Summary: Mishima Yuuki had fallen in love with Kurusu Akira.Mishima Yuuki had Hanahaki Disease.





	Moon's Roses

**Author's Note:**

> The alternate summary for this was going to be  
> "Roses are red  
> Carnations are white  
> Do you guys think  
> Mishima will be alright?"  
> but I decided to go with something a little more on the lines of a summary than my crap poetry skills lol. This fic isn't beta read and I basically wrote most of it while passing out on my couch so sorry if this is messy! Also I'm not really like the best at writing so yeah that too. Hope you can enjoy it though regardless of my subpar writing skills!

It started off slow. A couple of petals randomly when he heard his voice in class, sent him a text message, saw him in the hallway. They were a dark pink color, making the blue-haired boy wonder exactly what kind of flower had bloomed in his chest. He made sure to keep a tight lid on it, covering his mouth and catching any petals that did come up when he would have a small coughing fit.

It was surprising to him how calm it had all been. Most of the information he could find online made it seem like the disease was something that escalated quickly and needed to be stopped as soon as it started. But with his own coughs happening only a couple times, at most, in a day it made him wonder if maybe his heart was playing tricks on him. More digging led him to find that there were some cases of people catching the disease only to have it die out after a couple weeks, much like how his own seemed to be going. Imagining this all going away soon made the boy relax.

Until it started getting worse.

A month. He had gone a whole month like this. Until near the end May when he finally realized that this wasn't going anywhere, that it was here to stay and would only get worse. The boy had barely made it home that night without spilling the rose petals all over the place, finally letting them free in the safety of his own room. He gasps for air as his hands gripped the front of his shirt tightly, tears forming at the sharp pain in his chest.

Mishima Yuuki had fallen in love with Kurusu Akira.

Mishima Yuuki had Hanahaki Disease.

He couldn't bring himself to go to school the following day, too exhausted from a night filled with panic and tears to even catch anything close to sleep. It was strange for him to miss a day and as such he earned a worried text from Akira around noon. Of course he would be worried after the way Mishima booked it so suddenly the night before. The message only caused more petals to pathetically flutter from his mouth as he typed up a quick response, reassuring his crush that he was okay and would be back at school the following day. Mishima felt the hot sting of tears forming at Akira's follow up message and he quickly tossed the device away from himself before curling up under his blanket.

What was he supposed to do? The surgery for Hanahaki wasn't too pricey, but his parents didn't have those kinds of funds at the moment, and the thought of having to tell them made him feel like crying even more. Not to mention the odds of keeping his ability to love were pretty slim. And the chance of death was also something to be concerned about as the disease could be unpredictable and if roots had already started growing then it was basically a death sentence. The stress made him feel like he was going to throw up.

He did end up throwing up, and as he sat there on the bathroom floor he tried to weigh his options a bit. There was the most logical, going to his parents and telling them so they could try and work this out as quickly as possible. That would put a lot of stress on them and the thought made Mishima feel guilty. There was the worst option, letting his disease go unchecked and hoping that maybe it would just go away on its own. It was stupid to think such a plan would work and he had to seriously ask himself if he was willing to die for such a lousy idea. And there was the final option, telling Akira and hoping for the best. The thought alone made his chest flutter and the Shujin student couldn't tell if it was because of the flowers growing there or because it stressed him out more and he was going to throw up again.

It turned out to be both. Mishima returns to his room after cleaning himself up a bit and getting the taste of bile and rose out of his mouth, flopping down onto his bed and staring up at his ceiling. What was he going to do?

Another mostly sleepless night came and went. As his alarm started to go off Mishima seriously considered not showing up to school again. With a heavy sigh he shut off his alarm and got out of bed, sluggishly going about his usual morning routine. He felt like his nerves had been fried, leaving him just tired and only a little bit anxious. Which was a lot better than he had been in the past few months, so at least there was that right? Maybe today would just be a regular day.

Turns out hoping for the day to be normal was the dumbest thing Mishima had thought of in a long while, excluding the idea he had while panicking in the bathroom the night before. Luck was never on his side. It turned out that someone had seen him running home the night he hung out with Akria and saw a couple petals fluttering in his wake. It also turned out that the person who saw him was a second year at Shujin. It also also turned out that said person was known for being very into gossip. So Mishima coming to school looking like he had just been in some sort of accident had a lot of people turning their heads. The stress and anxiety were back in full force, making him feel dizzy and sick yet again. Wonderful.

Despite this Mishima was able to make it halfway through the day before breaking down, much to his own surprise. The feeling of a couple pairs of eyes on him during class had grown to be too much for him to bear and once class was dismissed for lunch Mishima's legs carried him as quickly as they could to the bathroom down the hall. A few dry heaves, coughs, and sobs later and a voice finally asked him,

"Are you alright?"

Of course it had to be Akira of all people who came to check on him. He wasn't the only one though, as he could hear the sound of Sakamoto and Takamaki just outside the bathroom. While the gesture was kind it did nothing to help his situation, the fluttering in his chest making it hard to breathe and throwing him into another, slightly more violent sounding thanks to his crying, coughing fit.

"N-No. No, I'm not." Mishima finally choked out when the coughing subsided, his voice strained and shaking. He sounded pathetic and hearing his own voice made more tears fall. The idea that him telling Akira would make things better seemed even more unbelievable at this point than the idea of this all just going away magically. How could someone as calm and incredible as Kurusu Akira ever hold feelings for someone as weak and pathetic as Mishima?

"Want me to help you to the nurse's office?" Mishima could hear Akira shift the way he was standing, probably now closer to the stall. He sounded genuinely worried. It sent Mishima into another small coughing fit.

"Y-Yes please." He responded quietly after flushing the toilet and watching those dark pink and red petals go spinning away. Akira made his way into the stall, offering the shorter boy his hand as support to get back on his feet. Once Mishima was up again it was really apparent how much this was straining him, legs trembling as Akira slowly helped him out of the bathroom. It took a lot of concentration on Mishima's part to not break down again at the feeling of Akira's arm on his back and hand holding his side. He was just trying to help, the least Mishima could do was not make this any more troublesome for him.

"Yo Mishima, you look like hell man!" Sakamoto said the moment the two exited, causing the boy to flinch and run a hand through his hair.

"Shut up Ryuji. Are you feeling okay Mishima?" Takamaki's worried voice followed quickly stepping closer to try and check up on him. The attention was making his head spin, pressing himself a little more into Akira to make sure he didn't collapse and embarrass himself even more.

"I'm gonna take him to the nurse's office." Akira said after Mishima failed to respond to Takamaki's question. It was nice to have Akira speak for him, but it also left a stab of self-hate in his chest at how pathetic it was that he couldn't answer a simple question. The three exchanged some more words that Mishima didn't quite pick up on, mind spiraling as his vision began to tunnel.

The next thing Mishima knew he was in the nurse's office. Tired brown eyes blinked a few times, adjusting to the light and trying to take in the area around him. Did he seriously pass out? Right in the hallway? Another wave of embarrassment and loathing washed over him, though it had little time to consume him as something shifted beside the bed he was in.

"You're awake." Mishima shot up into a sitting position, immediately became dizzy, and nearly fell back down if it weren't for an arm wrapping around his back to steady him. He stared up at cool grey eyes filled with worry as they looked over Mishima's exhausted features. "Don't push yourself." Akira was too close, too warm, too kind and caring for Mishima to handle. The boy hunched over, head hanging over his lap and hiding his face from the other boy. Soft circles began to be rubbed into his back and it made the butterflies in his stomach and flowers in his lungs sputter back to life. He coughed hard a couple of times, keeping his eyes shut tightly to avoid looking at the petals that now littered his lap and let out a quiet sob.

"I'm sorry." Mishima muttered, causing the movement of Akira's hand to stop.

"What for?" He replies, leaning away slightly.

"For making you..have to deal with me more." His voice was hardly above a whisper as he came to realize that there might be other people here and as much as he felt the need to shout he couldn't bear the thought of other's hearing him. "For worrying you and the others. For taking your time away. F-For..." He hickuped and paused, biting his lip in frustration at himself. He's about to continue when Akira speaks up.

"You don't need to apologize for those things." Akira's voice was almost as quiet as Mishima's. He had probably picked up on the same thing Mishima had and was taking that into consideration. "We checked up on you because we care. You aren't taking any time away." The gentle tone of his voice was driving Mishima mad, the sharp pain in his chest making him want to sob. Why did he have to be so kind? Why couldn't he just be an asshole like everyone else was to him? "You can tell me if something is wrong. You know that, right?"

The words nearly break Mishima, his body going stiff and his hands gripped the crumpled blanket resting on his legs. Everything else seemed to be going wrong today, maybe telling him right now was the best time. Get it out of the way, do it while his confidence is already in shambles so that when he's rejected it wouldn't hurt as much. Then he could just go home, tell his parents, and get ready for the inevitable surgery. Easy. Mishima opened his mouth to speak and nearly choked on a rose petal.

Not easy.

Akira was back to rubbing circles as Mishima coughed up more petals. When the coughing stopped the crying started. God, he was such a mess right now. With his eyes shut he couldn't see Akira's hand cautiously pick up one of the rose petals.

"Correct me if I'm wrong, but are you coughing these up because of me?"

The question catches Mishima off guard and he shoots up, knocking Akira's hand off his back and startling the glasses wearing boy. His mouth opened but no words came out. Neither did any come out when he tried again. Or the third time. The fourth try his voice finally found him. "W-What would make you think that?" His voice is a bit louder than he wants it to be, but he's too surprised and having a hard time controlling it.

"I just felt like you coughed more when I spoke to you earlier and even now. Sorry, I shouldn't have assumed." Akira sets the petal he was holding back down, a look on his face that makes Mishima wonder. Makes him feel just enough bravery to slowly lean forward and press his face into Akira's chest. The bravery fades instantly but he can't bring himself to pull away, not when he had already made his move. That and the dizziness has returned and he was scared of moving again.

"D-Don't...don't apologize." Mishima mutters into Akira's shirt glad that the fabric was making his voice quieter. He takes a second before speaking again. "Y...you're right. They're b-because of you." It felt weird to say like that. It was a confession but it wasn't at all what he had thought it would be like. But it was out there now. Akira knew. Now all he needed was to hear a rejection and he would be one step closer to this disaster being over.

However Mishima hadn't at all considered that Akira wouldn't reject him right away, and he really hadn't considering that Akira would wrap his arms around Mishima in a light hug. "I'm sorry I've caused you pain." He says quietly into blue locks, making the smaller boy hold his breath. They sat like that for a while, Mishima stunned into silence by the warmth of arms holding him close. For the first time since the other night, the teen felt calm, felt something close to relaxation and safety. He wanted to say something, anything, but he found his mind failing him as he just continued to lean against Akira's chest.

After what felt like forever but might have been only 2 minutes of continued hugging, Akira finally moved again. One arm released Mishima with his hand digging into his pocket and pulling something out, something that Mishima couldn't see. "I guess I was being a coward for nothing." There was a small laugh in Akira's tone and it has Mishima pulling away, a confused look crossing the boy's features.

"W-What are you talking about?" His voice almost sounded annoyed, more words hooked onto the end but never being spoken as the black haired teen took one of Mishima's hands into his own. The action caused a light blush to cover his cheeks and he struggled to try and find his voice again. There was no need for more though as Akira's hand moved again to place something into his own, and as Mishima looked down to see what it was he felt his whole body freeze.

A single white flower petal was resting in the palm of his hand.

"W-What is..? Wait, h-hold on. Is this..?" Mishima stuttered, looking back and forth between Akira's face and the petal in his hand. There was no way these were because of him. It had to have a different meaning. Was this the rejection he was looking for? But then what about what Akira had said before placing this in his hand? What the hell was he getting at?

The chime to signal the end of lunch paused Mishima's thoughts momentarily and Akira finally released the boy, getting up and picking his bag up off the ground. "I need to get going. I'll come and see you after school alright?" A light smile crossed Akira's lips as he spoke. Mishima was about to protest, still confused about what the meaning of the flower petal was. He got his answer in the form of Akira leaning down and placing a quick kiss to Mishima's forehead, pulling back and stepping away with a small wave. "Get some rest." With that Akira left the nurse's office, and the last thing Mishima saw was a cat pocking its face out of the bag to look at him.

Mishima must have been more tired than he thought because he could have sworn the small black face was smirking at him.

**Author's Note:**

> Mishima coughed up dark pink rose petals when his crush was more innocent, as dark pink roses mean gratitude. Once he realized he was in love they were joined by red rose petals which are just like ya know, love.  
> Akira's flower was a white carnation since those are a symbol of innocence and pure love, according to wikipedia.
> 
> Also sorry for only addressing Ann and Ryuji by their last names while Akira ran around with his given. Writing from Mishima's pov made it strange to call them anything but their family name.


End file.
